The House Government Operations Committee is set to discuss the department at its meeting on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room III.

Monument to the unborn

Legislation from Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown, and Rep. Jerry Sexton, R- Bean Station, to erect a monument to the unborn on Capitol grounds has lingered throughout the legislative session with several lawmakers unsure what to do with it.

The bill, as it has been described by its sponsors, is meant primarily to memorialize the unborn who were aborted. Lawmakers have heard from a number of experts on the issue, including one last week who said a similar monument already exists.

The fate of the monument bill could be decided on the chamber floors on Monday. The Senate is set to convene at 3:30 p.m. and the House at 4 p.m.

The budget

On Friday, Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, who heads up the Senate's finance committee, said he thought the two chambers would be able to send their respective budgets to Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Beth Harwell in the early part of the week.

"Assuming that all of that goes to plan, we'll put down the landing gear for the session and we could potentially have the budget ready to be presented to the full body by the middle of next week," said Watson.

He said the budget will reflect the state's priorities, which include investments in education, economic and community development, health care and school safety.

Typically once the chambers pass the budget, the legislature looks to adjourn for the year shortly thereafter.

Last year, the budget hit a brief snag, when frustrated Republicans and Democrats joined forces citing concerns about being left out of the decision-making process. Only time will tell whether a similar fight could happen as the session enters its waning days.

Legislative initiatives

Every year, the legislature has the chance to decide to fund individual initiatives.

This year, the list of proposals include using $81 million for "firearms," $8 million for a movie about Martin Luther King Jr., $200,000 for new upholstery and drapes in lawmakers' chambers and $125,000 for a memorial in honor of Jeff Kuss, the Blue Angels pilot who died in a crash in Smyrna in 2016.

The governor's proposed budget for next year sets aside $15 million for such legislative initiatives, which, like every year, receive funding after negotiations between leadership in each chamber.

The appropriations committee in the Senate is set to finalize the various proposals on Tuesday when it meets. The House is expected to approve the proposals sometime in the early or middle part of the week.

Leftover bills

As is the case every year, there's a handful of high profile bills remaining in play as the legislature looks to wrap up.

The two chambers still need to reconcile differences over the short-term rental bill. Then there's of course the bill that would impose work requirements on TennCare recipients.

While the short-term rental and the work requirement legislation are among the more closely watched measures left over, there's a host of other bills that both chambers need to finalize approval of or risk losing for the year.

Jordan Buie contributed to this report.

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.